I rambled endlessly 

upon a dusty highway 

made of skeletons and lace

I read the daily news

and kept up with current events

I cared enough to pass as a reasonable person

sometimes too much

I tried this and that 

ate garden burgers 

and greasy fries

drank cold water

and complained about people with laptops

 

 I captured a nothing

  In a nowhere land

made of cardboard and hummus

  It wasn't easy

   there were ladies

and corrugated ribbons

  I combed my hair casually 

  and wore my grandfathers 

dark wool overcoat

   the Greyhound took me from

 Boston to NYC

I got off at Penn Station

   and rode a subway 

  to Alphabet City

  It was a nice day

   

  

 His coat of many colors

   was an old tan jacket covered

in hand sewn patches

  It was crudely done

  they looked like hobo patches 

  he smoked a cigarette 

  and spoke with the owner

  about not much

 Madonna of the trolls

    "Go live under a bridge!"

Her silk robes were patched with hobo patches

  "Some day..."

 I got speavey conundrums

Yick. Drinking double espresso and listening to the gals talk about their boyfriends.

"He's so cute but he's kinda dumb."

"He wears the same pants every day"

"He won't eat Asian food. Just sandwiches and spaghetti"

"My boyfriend let me go. I didn't even get fired!"

 I got harmonicas

A, B flat, C, D, E, F and G. I guess that covers most situations. 

I don't really know what I'm doing but it doesn't sound too bad. 

 I jacked the trade

    Master of none

  baited a hook

   Jerked it back

  Slept all night

  fish one fish two 

    red fish blue

   five fingered 

  Rosie 

  you wear my ring

 you're alright 

 

 Pray to the sun

   to drive 

us mad crazy

   stubborn stupid

    infantile 

  eating chili dogs 

      and getting suckered

  again

   puttin' on a show

while the dark side rakes it in

  and and and

over and over and over

 down the red road

    spying on 

silk alligators

    crying in the champagne

    Paris 20's 

  Le Dome

    that is gone but 

  now we have Nazis 

  again

     cheerleaders

    and crayfish

      Bottles of 7up

    catch the immigrant!

    feed the anger

      Chipotle promises

not to raise prices for 

   Proud Boys

    Fire the Veteran!

  what have you done for us lately!

    It's all gonna come down 

  On his stupid head

   Call Magua 

  we need some Huron 

   energy up in here

 

 

 sittin' greasy

    grey greedy

 like Natty

    Bumpo

  Nymphs

  in Bumpus Hell

Mt. Lassen 

   smells like sulfur

  Achievers

   On the path

  to sharp glass rocks for miles

  I don't know

 Grey skies

in March

   I got an orange lighter

burn it down

  swamp rat

        go book shopping

             North Beach

          Trieste

      go thrifting

       in Manteca 

       get stoned and eat junk food

      Buy a perfect polyester seersucker 

   try it on for size

   Wear it 

try it

  run down 

  my leg stopped throbbing 

    But it's cold out

 blues playing this am

sunlight shining reflecting 

in my eyes

stop your train

don't you hear me cry

Awhooo

 I woke up 

  and my

Leg

   was throbbing

FUCK

   type 2 diabetes 

are they going to cut my leg off?

Gahd I hope not!

  A1c at 10

  not good

La Dee da

 Sky blue 

    today

what was that?

   oh the garbage man 

  in the alley

someone is painting curbs red

  but they're so obviously not official 

like odd spray paint

  I asked the store owner

he said he had no idea

  and I believe him 

 Say wicked

  say whiner

say hero

  say Sawtooth Mountains

  say my leg hurts

    say hiking boots

  say poorly cooked rainbow trout

dog wouldn't eat it

  turned up his nose

do dogs eat fish?

he's not a cat, dumbass!

   bumpy road past the reservoir

I really just wanted a cigarette 

  But that's how it goes

 

 Don't try the greasy fries

  or eat kale

 and other anti-inflammatory 

   like walnuts

   I'm trying okay

 it's not easy

  being alive

  but it's all about 

    how you play the cards you're dealt

  but it's hard to bluff when they're holding

 a royal flush 

 and you live in Sparks

 Grease Monkey Crybaby 

    Scheming yer bastard lies

but it's just a $5 table

  have a Tareyton 100

   and another Schlitz

  and keep yer head down

   It's cold outside

    and god knows where your wife is

  she ain't here

  that was last week

    she said not to tell you

so I guess I screwed up

 Greasy War Zone

  I'm a left wing cadaver

  but it doesn't matter

   Rubber and eggs

    Sail toward the Midwest

      be a correspondent 

for St.Louis

travel on

     drink red wine

      in hell but

 keep your guard 

    With a 9 MM

     in your briefcase 

 next to the Tylenol 

  

  

 a greasy idea in heaven 

a million 

don't say it

   perturbed by ideas

    dens of what have you

    Nah you arent being right

      You JUMPED in the pool

         you sly dog 

            with faded overalls

    reaching for the light

  It only took a million years

so what

  wash your jeans

     get right 

    

 

 Greasy Pies of Marmalade 

  unescorted by the horses of the past

     what rhymes in breakfast draws

        A fine white line

 leading to encebollada

  with corn tortillas and 

 strong margaritas on a chilly saturday in the old Mission

  people seem happy 

      to be out  

      to be seen

      and to see

   to laugh

      and to joke with friends

    on the sidewalk

   "Is that where the Phoenix was?"

   "I liked peeing there"

   "I threw up near the Mobil ATT store right there once"

 Greasy skies 99

Say the whatnot

   grab your past

   Like A thousand wishes

    dream on

      dream on

    we are the wild animals

     dream on

   dream on

say the piggies the boars the feral pigs

    dream on

   dream on

     Time is not ours

     but it's all we've got 

  let's just forget it 

    and have some fun

once in a while

  

 

 greasy sleep web

tried and blued

    Scene foretold

  my eyes are sparkling

    I was actually in a Ninja Japanese bar 

  last night

 Greasy Jeez Louise

Say it like you mean it

there is no halfway

  except pretty much always

   Falling half way down the stairs

    Crying half way

     You have the temper 

        but you look sad

     I tried and got half way

    I half tried 

  But that's neither here nor there

 Greasy Stuka uprising

   on fertile plain

  what eyes 

  Rising again

    seed the brains 

      of need a leader

        salamanders frogging and flaying

      playing at hatred

        

 Greasy skies attract

   like mountains 

granite marble evergreens firs shoe leather

sweat and straps

boots and brown fish 

  and a hunk of fatback

bacon 

  to fry them in

a purple backpack

and

 a cubs hat Carolyn brought back from Chicago

  and a dog 

we didn't see another person for three days

  a hand drawn road sign

DO NOT TAKE FLATT'S ROAD!

YOU WILL DIE!

  I guess I'll go the other way

 Greasy dreams aspire

  to the toads

minnows in the pit

   gravel road 

   And cherry sno-cones

  Saturdays playing pick up games

  glove on bike handlebars

   stop at 7-11

     Oh thank heaven!

  

 greasy days ahead

  wallow in it

   the murk 

     let the tears and blood and 

      let the time

       betray what you think

         throw it away

            It's useless

  Less than 

      it's downright dangerous

       It's a box of shells

         With no rifle

  Watch the fire

     watch the fingers

        Watch the tv

     Explode in your face

         Watch Bugs Bunny

            What's up Doc

         and the path to the path

            to perdition

        is paved with smiling eyes

           and lollipops

               

                   

 Greasy dreams awake

  forget the foreboding

  Fight back!

  forget the dismissals

  I'm no Robinson Jeffers

   No Keats

    No Yeats

     No Robert Frost

       No Pokemon

   No Swamp Thing

 

 

 Greasy dreams asleep

Say what you will

    The sidewalks don't talk

   trees lose their leaves

    The sky is grey

   In February 

   You sleep with the window open

   and a lamp is on 

all night 

  no reason

 (So you can see who is attacking you!)

you drink ice cold coffee from a can

    And eat noodles with anchovy paste 

Je voudrais aller!

   at 3 am

    Time slips thru your fingers 

     like powdered sugar

    On a lemon custard donut

 Greasy dreams await

the bougainvillea 

Shady characters 

and myopic cats

  She wore white

   With blue nail polish

   It was a nice day

  

 Greasy dreams await

the window is open 

the fan is on as usual

It helps with tinnitus 

It was warm today which is different 

a gal was sleeping with her head down 

at a table in the cafe

I tried to make music 

but it wasn't happening 

Sometimes you do 

and sometimes you don't 

lately when I record I can hear

myself heavy breathing 

It fucking sucks

I wore two masks but it sounded even louder

I think cuz I was breathing thru my mouth

MOUTH BREATHER!

 

 I used to drink in a Japanese ninja motel bar

the bartender knew my name

and played old country tunes

& ate noodles and tuna poke

Life was a dream

but I can't drink like that anymore 

 You got no eyeliner

your presents are old books

  and vcr tapes

you push your way 

   through a crowd 

     Of Seventies ski jackets 

    and boxes of reel to reel tapes

   you awake hungry

  and groggy eyed

   you pee in a bottle

    and drink chicory coffee

    you don't believe the internet

it's all lies

 I ran a bat dream Japanese ninja store in hell

but nobody noticed

My eyeliner

   I had a Hyundai

   but I couldn't tell you what color it was 

  Or rather is

   I drove it cross country and back

See America First!

  my dad used to say

  but I think he was just cheap

  I have a photo of him

looking like he's going to some foreign country

 as a counter spy

in college he studied Russian and Engineering

SPY vs SPY

  I STUDIED PSYLOCIBIN AND BASKETBALL AT THE COLLEGE OF WHAT THE FUCK.

there were Redwoods 

 I got no gripes 

things are what they are

But goddang 

Haha

   I got a chicory New Orleans style coffee

   in a little milk container

  Outside its 60 degrees and getting

sunnier 

I smoke too much

    laid out in bed 

   looking at the sky

life goes on

 I dreamt about nothing

fur lined streets of hazy skies

Boo bah

  Meow 

  

 in 1972

my friend bought a blue baseball glove

I got a two toned glove but both were brown

One shade darker than the other

it was a Brooks Robinson model

"The human vacuum" 

that guy could play some third base 

"The hot corner"

As an adult I played on a men's hardball team

Mission Baseball Club

It wasn't a league 

just a bunch of guys who'd come out on Sunday

half the guys would go out in the field 

and the other half would be up

those were the teams that day

One time Johnny was playing third base

he got hit by a hard grounder in the neck

after a bad hop

He thought he was fine

But that night things started to go wrong 

a clot had formed in his neck and had gone to his brain

luckily they took care of him and he was fine

but ya gotta watch that hot corner 

 

 North Dakota

bought and paid for

potatoes were big there

spuds

giant lumberjack and

Babe the blue ox

we stopped and got burritos

they had potatoes in them

"There are no rice or beans here"

they said proudly

we ate them and they weren't that great

but what are ya gonna do?

 Growing up I had a friend whose mom raised Persian cats.

She must have had 30 or 40 of them. I thought they were ugly with their pushed in faces and there was cat hair everywhere. 

She had a little transistor radio on top of the refrigerator and she kept it tuned to a country and western station. 

Yuck. 

 

 I could go see D.

But I'd just end up getting fucked up.

We'd get high and watch weird tv.

I'd spend hours there until I figured he probably wants me to leave, that's why he put that shitty music on.

I'm not real good at taking a hint. 

La dee da

 The sun is too fucking bright out

I fucking hate that.

It's like living in LA.

Or Arizona or some shit.

Fuck that.

I live here because it's supposed to be all foggy.

Foggy SF.

With evening foghorns blasting in the distance.

One time a foghorn was so loud it sounded like the ship was two blocks away.

I swear to God.

 The creatures ate the wide eyed ladies

they had no sympathy 

did you see the dress on that one?!

She tasted pretty good!

 They moved on to the next town

 I got nothing to do

so I smoke cigarettes

read books

play guitar

I like to play guitar

I record it and add other instruments 

all on my phone

It doesn't sound bad

I'm definitely not a great musician 

most of it is downright not good

but I keep at it

some of it's not bad

that's the best I can say

 I flew in a double decker airplane in 1972

We went to Milwaukee to visit the grandparents.

In the back of the plane was a large circular staircase.

It led up to a piano bar. A piano bar on an airplane.

A man was playing the piano and people were smoking and drinking Tom Collin's and Gimlets and other assorted drinks. People were all well dressed and there was much gaiety.

 I don't feel real

I don't know

It's weird

 nothing seems real

 I wore a phony smile

all the world had become slightly odd

pills they gave me for my blood

had changed my brain

I trudged through life

legs like cement

the doctor kept prescribing more pills

"I'm worried about the..."

smoking and drinking probably didn't help

It ain't romantic

I boozed to forget it all

but then I got tired of it

Yuck booze

I drank so much 

every night

and did nothing much

so I quit 

And now I do nothing much but sober

 I heard a foghorn last night

off in the distance

  It sounded like it was 1969

I was in bed smoking

   with the window open

 The stars were put there for me

   I called out but the reply

was a gaggle of geese

I walked on

  I wonder if the Chinese place is open?

Kung Pao chicken waits for no man

 I moved like a broken cowboy 

   in a porn movie

my mustache was like the seventies

   I had no ADHD

   no pancake driven dreams

Leather chaps 

  and a corvette 

yellow and dripping oil

 

 There was no sigh of relief.

Cars were everywhere. The music played and played.

Some kind of African guitar and drums and some shaky thing. It went on and on.

Outside the sun poked through. A bus went by.

 His chakras were not aligned.

Birds chirped. 

The streets were wet.

African music played.

He was not in Africa.

 The cafe played Soweto street music.

 The hobo said

"It's another day. Nothing special about it."

As he drank his latte.

 

 I don't know nothing

I got a handle

on you

you're nothing

But I don't know you

Say la vee 

Je m'apelle Pinche 

  what's your name

  Bright Skies?

   Solemn Swine?

I just dunno

 I drank sake yesterday

 It cost one dollar

  at that price 

   who could say no?

     Everybody else

     but it was fun

    It's nice to drink booze

Occasionally 

 

 We crafted Brinks armored car emotions

   drove to atm's of despair 

  left deposits of sadness

and rage

 cashed it in

  left broke

 sometimes penniless 

   sometimes rich 

  the west bank 

     the banks of the river Thames

   the burial place of Pocahontas

  he banked it

    and ran

the side eye

   the no left turn

      the complacent

the Salmon fight

  up the river

to spawn and die

  bears fattening themselves

before sleep

   the carjacking of America

the sleep that burns

  the "ya gotta pull the hammer all the way back"

  ADHD 

    and RFK Jr has polio of the brain

or a worm

We crafted a USA of Slavery and Genocide 

  we the people

get screwed

 cremated wind

  ponders your past

the Frost house

  Davis Ave

  the Ho Chi Minh trail

(my dad named it)

  to the creamery

through the woods

behind our house

via railroad tracks

  an elf circle

and a found felt hat

  accused of stealing

  I found a home plate (baseball)

in the woods

   the 2nd grade boy got hit in the head w a baseball bat

  I was taking him to the school nurse

  when she ran up and yelled at me

"YOURE NOT SUPPOSED TO MOVE HIM!"

I would imagine she's dead now 

  I was in second grade you stupid bitch

  But you were probably stressed out

 egregious

  to a fault

bad to the bone

  107.7

on your radio dial

 death ponders 

a sullen good bye

 stealing memories

  There are no chess games

     Max Von Sydow

 Greed courses 

Through blood veins

    eyes red and swollen

   skin dry and flaky

    hands shaking

   the bourbon gets poured

    as we listen to Merle Haggard

    who died of double pneumonia 

 My feet hurt

I don't know why. I like to walk. Maybe I need better shoes. Who knows?

I took my film in to be developed and scanned. 

La dee da

 

1969

We drove cross country in a red VW Squareback. We stopped in Illinois at some friends of my dad's and we watched the landing on the moon. We watched it in their basement and it seemed like it took forever. 

When we got to California we stayed at Stanford University in a dorm. My dad was teaching summer school classes there. There wasn't hardly anybody living in the dorms during the summer but there was a nice youngish guy who lived there and he had a tv. We didn't have a tv in our dorm room. He asked if I wanted to come over to watch tv. I was all heck yeah. I loved tv.

One time when I was playing baseball by myself the ball rolled into the shrubs by the dorm. I had to get on my hands and knees and crawl in to get it. I found a wine bottle with fluid in it and a rag stuffed into the bottle. I thought that's weird - why would you put a rag in a bottle? Years later I realized it was a Molotov cocktail. 

Ka-boom!

 When I was ten I played golf with my Great Uncle Werner.

Uncle Werner owned a dairy farm in Wisconsin. He was a very nice old gentleman and he offered to take me out to play golf.

Uncle Werner was married, I think, but I don't remember his wife. I don't think they had any kids. But I might be wrong.

Being ten I had never played golf but I played baseball and had a pretty good swing. On the first hole he let me go first. I swung back and hit the ball as hard as I could and it went straight down the fairway. 

"Wow, not bad!"

Uncle Werner got in place and whacked the ball. He shanked it and it went into the trees. That's all I remember.

 

 I'm tired

I went for a long walk after lunch. It's a beautiful day. 

Some guys were playing jazz in the park. I listened to One Note Samba by Jobim. Then I moved on. Down the street people were doing their people things in the park on a beautiful day. 

Now I'm home and my feet hurt and I'm tired. This is what happens when you get old. 

 Did you have a falling tree

in your brain?

  Well I did

   She said you're a toy caboose

I said you're a papoose

  Then the fun started

 We had linguini and clams

   I had a Pernod 

  and drank so much water

I  almost died

 Good grief 

that's a day 

 The craters fell

   into a dance

     blackened by beautiful sunshine

       caldera's last name

    Was unknown

  the roads went through the woods

  Her name

was seen on a sign

   by the cafe/bar/gas station

  maybe a coincidence

we could hear the oceans roar

     Joe was not drunk

  let's stop and get a steak!

 and that was the beginning 

 Aggrieved 

    I'm taken

   why? 

      I've got no choice but it's unfortunate 

  turkeys on the road 

    at war with everything

  curses the doorbell

   spilled beer around the sofa has stained

his mind

   Perhaps it's unfair!

   Issues I think

 best to just let it be

 The blues were marked

open eyed drunk

leaping and falling

crying and laughing 

The blues didn't care

He's drunk!

Let's go get some tacos

Hmm good idea-

He'll be here when we get back!

they caught a 52 toward the ocean

 

 Grief has no sidewalks

    stumbling but not looking

   you part your hair on the other side

    the mirror is backwards

   But it doesn't matter

   It's Thursday and you have nothing to do 

   The sun is shining on a bright blue sky

  You say fuck it put

your pants on and get on with it

 Blues & Haikus

  stoned on the edge of the western shore

    Oaks and firs

  a breezy day

   with tourists buried 

    and old Victorian sculptures missing a leg

  and an arm

  Diana the Huntress

  watches from her broken pedestal

  She calls out her hunting cry!

 But there is only the wind

a squirrel scampers

up a tree

 

 Don Cuco 

would come to take care of the plants- the tiled

patio was covered in plants - like a 2nd floor Jungula-

he was always dressed nice and he would sweep up and trim and water the plants. Don Cuco wanted to marry Teresa but she wasn't having any of that. 

Don Cuco lived with his mother out by the river and was very religious. 

 No Tire La Basura Antes De Ocho

Down on the street he put the sign 

but it didn't matter

they did what they wanted to do

On the corner the old guy with the skin affliction

had a torta shop- he'd make you a good cheap torta

Don Pedro

No sign on his shop- they said if you have a sign

you have to pay taxes-

at night two young sisters would sell tacos

they just set up on the sidewalk

75 cents for a taco 

and they were good

 Mole Pipian 

green mole- I thought mole was like

chocolate but

this they said was from pumpkin seeds

twenty years later they were still there

but no Pipian

 another freeze dried morning 

It's easy 

not as good but  

it reminds me of my dad

he always made freeze dried coffee

in Mexico we'd sit with a view

of the Bahia Banderas

and the large church

and drink our coffee

Teresa would make breakfast

you could hear cars and old beat up trucks

downshift to make it up the steep hill

 I woke up early

Mom needs to get shots in her eyes

My sister and I double team her

It makes it somewhat fun

poor old gal can't remember much 

but she's still here

she can identify people in photos

If she adjusts her glasses

I tell her "You're old!"

and she laughs

 A croak

from her

blossomed into the night

What day do we leave

I don't think I can go

I'm not in any shape for all that

That's the way it goes

haven't heard from her since

But what did I expect 

She's ten years younger than me

 The madness corroded the telephone

until all was lost

sounds bad

  but there's still chipmunks 

and a form of Komodo Dragon

 I went and got bacon and eggs for breakfast

at some semi-fancy French restaurant

everybody was speaking Mexican 

maybe it was a region in France

the best part was they don't take tips

I guess I saved six bucks

Woo - hoo!

 The days click by

like horses at the glue factory

I slept from 8 pm to 6 am

then I went to get my new prescription 

Sorry your insurance didn't approve it so it's 

$1297.63

You're sorry? Nah

 Until said discoveries

   are impugned 

Until storied times

   are released

   like frost houses 

    and van trappists 

      in cancer zones

         Maria! 

      when you're a jet...

Until screams are released

   and cries are 

   turn left at Greenland 

    sigh and pretend

everything is going to be ok

 Slammed my head

   on Bristol 

    binomes 

  slept amongst

     trolls under the bridge 

  ate bangers

    A true time

   see the flowers 

      in your mind

 the world is failing?

   nah just gotta roll

  with the spiders

GET A BOTTLE OF CLEAR ALCOHOL

 

 Jesus asked God 

When was my birthday?

God being a typical dad didn't know.

Christmas he said

 I can hear beeping

    like an eighties car alarm

  but just beep beep beep

what is that?

  who knows?

   who cares?

  Somebody getting in their car 

       going to who the fuck knows where

     but they have purpose

I gotta go! 

 in the old days

  I'd get stoned and type 

on a cheap typewriter

    about Napoleon of the streets

      or the last fair deal gone down

   I got tons of old stuff

     in boxes somewhere

   now it's all online

   No more paper

    no more boxes

 just hiding away

   Online somewhere

  with four or five unknown readers 

Out there going

   this guys fucked up

Haha

   Ah it's another day

   the sun is kinda shining

  friends are posting

   from Cozumel

   cuz their home is -16 w wind chill

   Im pretty lucky for 

  a guy who really didn't do much

 Relentless

casual cadence

I try

   but it's fate I

think

   the sidewalks

   stare at me accusingly

   but I keep moving

    if I don't walk I'll

die gotta keep the blood

 flowing

    sometimes a young gal

    will look at me

      but I'm too old for that

       I get perturbed at

          people on bikes

     on the sidewalk

     I'm a grumpy

   old man

 I got no hope

I creep along

an old white haired man

   on my way to a Chinese restaurant 

    or a double espresso

   I sit and watch people come and go

    then I get up and go look at CD's at a giant record store

 $2.99 for Greatest Hits

   $4.99

  $12.99

  too expensive

 I pick out a couple cheapies 

   then I put the CD's in the car 

  and go back to my cave

 a dreamer

   walks in memories

don't pass

   the tequila

      the lime 

    the salt

  don't cry 

   don't laugh

    don't turn on the tv again

 what town is this 

  Motel 6 has a safety valve 

  As long as you pay

you can stay

   but why would you want to?

 Gravel toothed and Lordy lord

    swaying in the evil wind

brackets and turds in your ears

    torn up sneakers and knees torn

out jeans 

    that horse died years ago 

      put on the leather

    Severin

    remind of 101

      or 17 thru Los Gatos

   with the stories of the streets

   the tapes are worn out 

you lived another day

   another time 

your face has changed

 

 blow me down

   like a squall

a sunstroked clam digger

   selling fries

    to Washington DC

     news

Slay the course- be

   not 

tried and rued 

   and battered and bruised

 sycophant news

   Please spread 

tribes of sycophants

breaching the breeches 

bust or death

   live stupid or die

    pass the New England

Take 

   take 

      take

   

 

 parading the monsoon

   speech

      pants soaked

    socks and shoes wet

dripping and shaking 

  hello another day

    

 

 Jimmy lived in a nice house on the hills overlooking LA.

His mom worked for a movie studio. She was on the phone a lot. Jimmy wasn't really sure what she did.

Roscoe was whimpering and scratching at the sliding glass door. 

Jimmy opened the door and Roscoe took off like a shot.

"ROSCOE!"

Roscoe was usually kept on a leash outside. 

He could see Roscoe and where Roscoe got over the fence. 

"ROSCOE! COME HERE!"

Roscoe was running through the scrub brush towards the next house. Jimmy wasn't sure who lived there. The Williams had moved to Spain and Jimmy didn't know who was living there now. He'd seen a fancy car but nothing else really. 

"ROSCOE!!"

Jimmy went out and climbed over the fence and followed where he saw Roscoe had gone. It was toward the neighbor house. 

"ROSCOE! ROSCOE! COME HERE!"

He could see the neighbors deck and the door was slightly open. The car was gone though. 

He got up near the house and yelled out. 

"HELLO! ANYONE THERE?"

He could see Roscoe running around in the house.

"Gosh darn it!"

"ROSCOE!"

"HELLO!!"

He walked up to the door and looked in. It was pretty nice inside but kinda messy.

"HELLO!" He shouted. 

He stepped in and looked around. He didn't see Roscoe but he saw a gun on the coffee table. It was next to a large mirror with some white powder on it. 

'Huh, a gun.' He thought. 

He'd never held a real gun.

He picked it up.

"P-KEW P-KEW, I'm shooting bad guys!"

There was a large oil painting of a man in a fancy suit over the fireplace. 

He pointed it at the man's forehead and pulled the trigger.

BLAM!! The gun went off and put a hole in the painting right at the man's forehead. It frightened the heck out of Jimmy and he dropped the gun. 

Roscoe had shown up and Jimmy grabbed him by the collar.

"Come on Roscoe! Let's get out of here!"

 

Jimmy didn't want to go to school.

He didnt like Mr. Showalter. 

'He's faking.'

"JIMMY!"

He heard his mom calling him.

He rolled over. 

"Jimmy! Get up! You're late!"

"I don't feel good"

"What's wrong?"

"My tummy hurts"

"Mom has a meeting this morning"

"I don't think I should go to school, I don't feel good "

His mother looked perplexed. 

"Well, I have to go but I'll be home around lunch. Will you be okay here by yourself until then?"

"I think so"

"Okay there's cereal on the table if you get hungry, I'll see you around 1 o'clock. Bye sweetie"

His mom left the house got in her car and headed down the road. 

Jimmy got out of bed. He was wearing his pajamas with the NFL logos. Roscoe the dog came running in.

"Hi Roscoe!"

Jimmy sat at the table and poured himself a bowl of fruit loops.